How much N.J. will save after Gov. Chris Christie's budget cuts

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie holds a town hall meeting before a capacity crowd at the Roxbury Township Municipal Complex in Morris County to discuss property tax plan and affordable housing.

"I’m thrilled that the budget is in the position that it’s in ... We all worked together."-Gov. Chris Christie

THE BUDGET DEALDemocrat and Republican lawmakers will meet today to review a deal reached Monday on Gov. Chris Christie’s $29.4 billion budget proposal. The agreement leaves much of the Republican governor’s first budget untouched, including major cuts to schools and cities that could have ripple effects on property taxes. Changes can still be made before the budget receives final approval from the Legislature and the governor by June 30. Highlights are:

• The $29.4 billion total is $81 million more than Christie’s original budget proposal, which he unveiled in March.

• Total state appropriations are down 8.6 percent from last year, but only 2.2 percent if federal stimulus funds are excluded.

• Christie has said steep cuts are needed to close a $10.7 billion budget gap.

STATE AID TO SCHOOLS• School aid is the state’s single largest expense, and Christie wants to trim it by $820 million, to $10.3 billion.

• No school district would lose more than 5 percent of its total annual budget in state aid.

• Districts that receive less than 5 percent of their budgets from state aid could be frozen out entirely.

• In response to Christie’s cuts, districts are planning to lay off staff and cut programs, curtail busing and increase property taxes.

• The administration is facing a court challenge from 31 of New Jersey’s poorest school districts, who say Christie’s cuts violate the state’s school funding formula.

STATE AID TO MUNICIPALITIES• Another major piece of the budget could decrease by almost $450 million, leaving about $1.45 billion in funding.

Protesters offer their suggestions to try and close the 13 billion budget gap

Protesters offer their suggestions to try and close New Jersey's budget gapOver 25,000 people turned out to protest Governor Chris Christie's budget cuts in Trenton on Saturday so we took to the streets and offered free lemonade to anyone who could close the $13 billion budget gap. People had many suggestions including the millionaire's tax, eliminating county government, and raising the gas tax, but it wasn't easy to find $13 billion. (Video by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger)

The cuts would include a $275 million decrease in standard aid.

• The plan would cut $220.8 million in various funds for cities and towns claiming financial difficulties, including $34.9 million for Trenton. A new fund with $159 million for so-called transitional aid would be created.

• Tax breaks intended to spur economic growth in urban areas — urban enterprise zones — would be kept, but Christie plans to send only $48 million in sales tax back to those areas, instead of the full $91.7 million for which they would otherwise be eligible.

• Another $7.6 million in aid to communities in the Pinelands and Highlands regions — two environmentally protected areas — would be cut.

HIGHER EDUCATION• About $173 million in state aid to public colleges and universities would be cut, leaving $2.07 billion in funding.

• Student financial assistance would be cut by $15.2 million, and funding for facility improvements will be reduced by $3.7 million.

PROPERTY TAX REBATES• No property tax rebate checks this year, marking an end to a three decade-long tradition. Democrats failed in their effort to pass a tax on household incomes exceeding $1 million a year. That money would have funded the rebates for seniors and disabled people.

Thousands gather in Trenton for anti-Christie rally

Thousands gather in Trenton for anti-Christie rallyThousands of marchers began gathering in Trenton on Saturday morning for a rally against Gov. Chris Christie’s budget cuts. Protest organizers estimate the crowd could reach 30,000, which would make the demonstration the largest in Trenton’s history. (Video by Adya Beasley / The Star-Ledger)

• Most residents who received a rebate last year may receive one-fourth of that amount in a credit next year. About 103,700 tenants will be cut from the program to save $71.5 million.

HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL PROGRAMS• The budget would raise an additional $45 million from the hospital tax, qualify for $45 million in federal funds and use $60 million of it to increase charity care payments to hospitals treating the uninsured.

• It would discontinue the $30 million "stabilization’’ grant for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

• The spending plan also would close the Woodbridge Residential Treatment Center, one of three state-run facilities for troubled children, in January 2011.

• Nursing homes would not receive additional state funding to keep up with inflation, a savings of $56 million.

• Christie proposes eliminating the $7.5 million to supplement family planning and medical screening services at clinics.

• The Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Hunterdon County will remain open, despite earlier plans to close it. Half of the Vineland Developmental Center for the developmentally disabled is expected to be shuttered.

• A plan to charge patients $3 a day to attend an adult medical day care center would be scrapped.

BUSINESS PROGRAMS• The plan would slash tax credits for high-tech businesses in half — to $30 million — and review whether state economic development programs are effective.

• It also would raise miscellaneous fees to generate an additional $5 million. For example, the cost of starting a limited liability corporation would go to $156, from $125, and the annual fee would rise to $63, from $52.

• A $15 million tax credit that encouraged independent filmmakers to produce movies in the state would be eliminated.

• The InvestNJ economic development program would be cut and $22 million would be shifted to the Main Street Program.

CONSOLIDATING STATE AGENCIES• Christie has prioritized shrinking state government operations and reached a deal with the Legislature that would keep funding the State Commission of Investigation, the Legislature’s $3.54 million watchdog agency.

• The Public Advocate would be eliminated.

• Motor Vehicle Commission agencies would be closed on low-traffic Mondays, although operating hours on Saturdays would be lengthened.

• The state’s motor pool would be pared down by about 325 vehicles with an eye toward future reductions.

TOOLS FOR TOWNS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS• Christie unveiled 33 bills aimed at helping municipalities and school districts lower the cost of public employees. They include:

• A constitutional 2.5 percent cap on the annual increases in municipal, school and county property tax levies. The only exceptions would be for debt service payments, or if local residents vote to override the cap. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) countered by proposing a legislative 2.9 percent cap, which has more exceptions and would be easier to change in the future.

• Christie’s cap also includes a 2.5 percent limit on the annual increases of employee contracts — including wages, health benefits, vacation time and other perks — for all local workers including police, firefighters and teachers. That would include contract awards made through the binding-arbitration process for police and firefighters. School boards also could invoke a "last, best offer" if negotiations with a local teachers union reach an impasse.

• The tool kit also would allow towns to opt out of the civil service system through an ordinance or a petition by 15 percent of the voters. Civil service protections — including "bumping," in which newer employees lose their jobs before their more senior colleagues — would not apply to furloughed employees or those laid off because of shared-services agreements.